Vertigo

Vertigo worked with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (the “District”) and its business analysts to modernize a 50-year-old paper process and bring it to the web. This resulted in the design and development of a series of applications with the centerpiece being a Silverlight based Emission Train Viewer. This new viewer in some cases replaced literally a knee-high stack of paper reports.

The Vertigo team faced huge design and technical challenges to make this a reality. The Emission Train deals with complex chemical and manufacturing processes from industries as varied as refineries, dry cleaners, restaurants and car washes.

The complexities of the domain and the technical challenges associated with creating this application were immense. The application needed to be dynamic, integrate with the back-end enterprise systems, and operate under sophisticated business rules.

Because the users were typically not comfortable working with technology, we had to create an application that represented a near limitless number of equipment configurations through an easy to understand and manageable UI.

The project involved Vertigo’s design team meeting with key users and stakeholders within the District which included chemical engineers, enforcement staff, and business analysts to determine what workflows could be managed and consolidated into a new web based application.

Ultimately Vertigo created an easy to comprehend process flow that includes dozens of original icons representing all the possible devices, abatements, and pollutants.

More details are made available by clicking on these icons. A dashboard provides detailed reporting and alerts for unfavorable results. This all feeds back into the enterprise system to inform the district of possible violations, fines, or upcoming renewal fees.

The ultimate value of this application is simple; it lessens the workload of the staff so they can spend more energy on serving their customers and the community and increases the revenue of the district through more efficient monitoring of emissions control, permits, and fines.